Shadow's Green Notebook
by ShadowWeasel
Summary: High-school romance. How can you get any more cliché? I'm not going to say I have a crush on Amy Rose, because that would be stupid. I will instead say that I find myself infatuated with her personality, features, and presence. And I can only assume that if you're reading this, it means that Rouge has finally betrayed me.
1. Chapter 1

She was fourteen when they said she needed glasses. It made her terribly nervous, that first day with them on. Her face turned this lovely shade of amber whenever someone looked her way.

Did he notice? No.

She was fifteen when she stopped wearing red dresses. It was a gradual thing, the transition. She slowly changed her choice of palette to orange, then to blue, then to green, and then she began wearing something different altogether. Similar pattern; orange jacket and blue jeans, then blue jacket and blue jeans, and then green jacket and blue jeans.

Did he notice? Of course not. He never cared. Not in the way she wanted, anyway.

Did he comfort her when she was scared, when she was embarrassed? No. Did he slip on a fake pair of spectacles to make her feel like there was someone who knew her pain, to let her believe that she was not alone? No. Did he compliment her on her change of style, her new look? No.

Who was there to tell her, "Hey, you look good in glasses." Who was there to say, "Cool jacket, Amy." Who the devil was the one who said, "Don't cry. He's just not into you like that. He doesn't deserve you."

Not Sonic.

I was the one that watched her, the one that helped her, the one who picked her up when she fell down. I was the one who turned bright red when she found out that my glasses were fake, the one who smiled sheepishly when she discovered that I had only been trying to make her feel better. I was the one who protested when she forced me to wear her jacket that winter afternoon, the one who told her she was being stupid to let me wear it, the one who put his arm around her shoulders to keep her warm as the snow fell. I was the one who wiped the tears from her eyes, those beautiful jade eyes, the one who embraced her as gently as possible as she sobbed.

'Why, Shadow, why would he say no?'

There's absolutely no reason why he would say no, Rose. No reason at all.

"God, you're desperate."

"Rouge!" I was growling, seething with humiliation-fueled rage, "Give that back, now!"

"Easy, Mister Doom-and-Gloom," she laughed, crossing her legs and leaning back in my rolling chair. _My _chair. "I think it's cute."

I tore the green notebook from her dainty, painted fingers. "I don't care what you think," I lied, blushing furiously. "I only care that you stay away from my private documents."

Why had I agreed to let her into my house? She was nothing but trouble, that bloody bat. Sexy trouble, some might say, but trouble nonetheless. Study for tomorrow's exam, she had said, I could really use your help on this next test, she had said. Of all the lying…

"So," she interrupted my thoughts, wearing that smile I knew all too well. "You've got a thing for that Rose-girl, huh?"

I resisted the urge to ask her so what if I do, and instead said, "I don't want to talk about it."

Rouge raised her gloved palms in defense and shook her head. "Say no more. I just thought you might want some juicy insider-info." She cocked an eyebrow and pointed one of her sea-blue eyes in my direction as if to goad me into begging her for advice.

It didn't work. "I'll keep it in mind. Now shut up. We have work to do."

"You have such a way with words, Shadow. It melts my heart."

"Number twenty-five. Find the square root of _x_."

"Smart and handsome. How do you keep the women off you?"

High-school romance. How can you get any more cliché? I guess if I was a vampire, then that might do it. But I'm not. I'm a hedgehog. The ultimate life form, to be more precise.

I'm not going to say that I have a crush on Amy Rose, because that would be stupid. I will instead say that I find myself infatuated with her personality, features, and presence. I am aware that she is obsessed with Sonic the hedgehog, and I am fairly certain that she thinks of me as only a friend. If I end my life as nothing more than her good friend Shadow, I will be content.

That doesn't mean I don't want to be more than that.

And I can only assume that if you are reading this, Rouge has finally betrayed me. Blasted bat…

It was the day of our dreaded Algebra 2 exam when events began to unfold, in my favor or otherwise. I arrived early, as usual, and sat down in the commons area. The dark booth in the corner of the room. I was reading a particularly good Gothic novel when Rouge sat down across from me. I could recognize her without glancing up from the pages of my book, partially because I had grown accustomed to her sitting at my table every morning, and partially due to the fact that any man with half-decent hearing could sense her coming. Those high-heels and their incessant clicking…

"Shadow," she said.

I turned a page and nodded automatically. "Rouge."

"Get your head out of that book, would you?" she demanded. "I prefer to talk to my friends face-to-face."

Just another way of saying that she liked to play with her prey before she killed it. "Only because you asked so nicely," I said with a fake smirk. I hoped she couldn't see the dark circles beneath my eyes; last night's event concerning my journal had left me restless.

"I have one question for you," she beamed as she pulled my book away and set it down beside her seat. "Are you serious about Amy?"

I had been half-awake before, but that query hit me like a splash of cold water. "I thought I said I didn't want to talk about it," I reiterated, unconsciously checking the corners of my vision for anyone who might have been listening.

"Yeah, yeah," she waved my frustration away like a bad smell as she talked, "I heard. But you didn't answer me."

"Of course I'm serious," I admitted, more to get rid of her than to give her any satisfaction. "Now can we not talk about it, please?"

Rouge grinned evilly. "Only because you asked so nicely," she mocked, handing my book back.

I snatched it away and found my page. "Whatever."

"What are you reading, anyways?"

"Edgar Allan Poe."

"Morbid. Girls don't dig that, Shadow."

"I'm trying to read, Rouge."

"Unless you're going for the Goth-look, then you're headed in the right direction…"

"Rouge."

"Maybe Amy likes the quiet, emo-type."

I flustered and felt my face turn beet-red. "Rouge!" I snapped.

She laughed, and I buried my face deeper into the pages. Deep down, I knew that whatever was going to happen, it would happen soon. And it probably wouldn't be for the better.


	2. Chapter 2

My heart was pounding, my throat was dry, and I felt a peculiar feeling rising in my stomach as the tests were being passed out. It wasn't so much the material that was being passed out as it was the girl passing them around. God, she looked beautiful; the way her military-green jacket was draped over her small frame, and the blue jeans grasping tightly around her legs, her emerald eyes glancing shyly to and fro as she scanned the room, handing out the exam that many of us had only had nightmares about.

"Amy," the teacher pressed, "make sure that everyone gets one."

"Yes, mam," she affirmed, her pale lips parting just so as she spoke. Unlike Rouge, there was not a grotesque amount of makeup there to cover up her natural loveliness.

She crossed my desk and stopped for a moment. It was a split-second gesture that anyone but I would have missed. As she placed the paper down onto my desk, she offered a faint, sweet smile from behind the glare that bounced off of her glasses and into my eyes. Her gloved fingers waved at me subtly as she continued on her way.

I swallowed hard and pretended to focus on my test.

After several minutes, I was done with the exam and ready to continue. There's something to be said for being the ultimate life form. It kicks the hell out of mathematics.

Rouge, of course, did not have such a luxury. Twice did she prod my spine with the eraser-end of her pencil in an attempt to bully me into giving her answers. I care for my spinal cord, and as such was happy to oblige.

"Thanks for your help, Shadow. I'd have flunked that test."

"Perhaps I should have let you. It'd do you some good to fail once and a while."

Rouge placed a spread hand over her chest acted surprised. "Me, fail? When hell freezes over, sweetheart."

I was unconsciously smiling then, but it didn't last long. My eyes fell upon a sight I had seen many times before.

It was Amy, standing on her toes and clasping her textbooks anxiously against her stomach. Now, this alone would have been a rather cute thing to witness, but couple with Sonic's presence, I could no longer say that. He was leaning against the left wall of the hallway, his head lolling backward as he fought back yawns. His toxic green eyes bordered on dead as he looked sleepily at the pink hedgehog.

Never let it be said that I defended the wretch that is the Blue Blur, however, there is a reason as to why he always rejected Amy. It was a simple matter of preference. Sonic preferred not to date her.

But it always made me sick watching her beg for his attention, seeing him tell her no, and then seeing him resort to more drastic measures.

"Shadow?" the voice of Rouge asked from behind. "What's up?"

I mindlessly turned to her and gave her my books. "Hold these for me."

She did so, arched an eyebrow, then looked around me and saw Sonic and Amy. Her brow furrowed. "Shadow, don't even think about it. It's not worth getting involved."

I ignored her and marched straight into the fray. The voices of Amy and Sonic were blending together in my mind in a hellish stew that burned my ears.

"So, Sonic…"

"What is it, Amy? I haven't got all day."

"Oh, r-right. I was… I was w-wondering if you…"

"Speak up."

"I was thinking, maybe you'd want to go with me…"

"Who'd want to go anywhere with you?"

"… to the dance coming up. It's far away, but I figured I could ask you early, and maybe…"

I arrived just as Sonic began to push himself off the wall and into a standing position. His eyes crossed me lazily, but he shrugged my gaze off and turned back to Amy.

"Listen, Amy," he started. "Just get out of my face, okay? I told you no, like, I don't know how many freaking times."

Amy's usually spry and smiling face turned downcast and embarrassed. There was an orange tint glowing from her face as the blood rushed into her cheeks. The corners of her eyes turned bloodshot as she fought back tears. She cried easy. Who could blame her?

I pretended I had not heard Sonic's answer, and instead walked to Amy's side feigning ignorance. I wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulder and beamed, "Hey, Amy."

She looked up at me sadly. "Hi, Shad-…"

I turned her away from me and over towards Rouge, who was still standing outside of the classroom I had left her at. "Rouge wanted to talk to you," I lied, knowing the bat was clever enough to improvise something. "She's over there. See you at lunch?"

Amy's face lit up slightly, but only slightly. "Oh, yeah. I'll talk to her. See you at lunch."

I watched her go, watched her wipe off the insides of her fogged lenses, watched her return to her happy, innocent self. Then I turned and looked at Sonic. No, looked is an understatement… glared is more accurate.

He had this dumb smile on his face, like he had just come up with a clever joke that only he understood. "What's up, Shad?"

I fought back the urge to morph my hands into fists. "Just," I breathed, and then hissed in an attempt to calm myself. Seeing Amy so disheartened always enraged me. "Just tell her no for God's sake."

Sonic shrugged as though the matter was entirely out of his hands. "Hey, when she starts taking no for an answer, I'll start using it as one. It's not my fault she's an ignorant-…"

I stepped forward sharply, interrupting his thought and making him flinch. "Think long and hard about what you're about to say."

There was a pause that felt like an eternity as he stared at me, dumbfounded. Between the two of us, we made up the 'toughest kids' in school. No one ever challenged us, unless they were looking for a straight-on fight. It always seemed to shock Sonic whenever I reminded him that there was more than one guy around who knew how to kick ass.

His surprised expression twisted into a frown and then into a sort of half-snarl. "Whatever."

I nodded and stood back. My heart rate went from machine gun to normal in a matter of seconds, and it left me winded. I shoved my trembling hands into my pockets. "Right. Whatever."

We walked away from each other without another word.

Rouge was there to greet me afterwards. There was no sign of Amy. "Here's your books back."

I took them from her and glanced around. "Where is-?"

"Amy?" she read my mind. "We'll see her at lunch, right?"

I cocked an eyebrow at my friend curiously. "Right," I said with a wary nod. "But where is she now?"

Rouge shook her head and shoved me towards our next class. Someone upstairs probably thought it was pretty damn funny that we both had the same first, second, and third periods. That's right; we were stuck with each other up until after lunch.

"Rouge," I insisted, trying to resist her pushing. "What aren't you telling me?"

"God, Shadow," she sighed. "For such a romantic, you sure don't get how suspense works."

Brilliant. She had something planned. God help us all.


	3. Chapter 3

"_Shadow said you wanted to talk to me?" _

"_Shadow said-…? Oh, yeah. Right." _

"_So, what's up?" _

"_Listen, Amy, you and Shadow are both pretty smart, aren't you?" _

"_I-I guess so. Rouge, what's this about?" _

"_Let me level with you, Amy." _

"You told her what?" I almost shouted across the table.

"Calm down, Shadow," Rouge was giggling. I suppose my embarrassment and shock must have looked pretty damned funny to her. "I didn't tell her _that_."

Relief washed over me like a wave of warm water. Thank God. "Then what did you tell her?"

She smiled at me mischievously. Perhaps I had thanked God a little too soon. "I just told her that I needed some help on this next exam, and that I could use you guys' help studying."

My stomach dropped into my feet. "Define studying."

The bat kicked back and put her long, tan arms behind her head and closed her eyes. "Isn't it obvious? We're going to your house to study, stupid."

"My house?"

"Well, certainly not the Pope's house, Shadow."

"Damn it, Rouge…"

"Hey, lighten up. It's not like I told her about your notebook."

"Remind me to burn that."

"No way! It's so freaking cute!"

I sighed in defeat and slumped back into my seat. Cute. That's what I'd been reduced to. My deepest thoughts and desires were written inside those pages… how _cute_.

Rouge stood from the table and stretched her legs. "I'm going to get some lunch. You coming?"

I shook my head. "Not hungry."

For half of a second, she paused and took a good, long look at me. Her sultry, crystalline eyes flickered and warped into a pair of sad, blue gems as they met mine. The curvaceous smile that was permanently plastered over her mouth finally broke, and I saw her frown.

That look said what she could never have the strength to say in all of her life. That look said that perhaps, just perhaps, she was wrong to be meddling in my affairs.

But I forced a smirk and nodded to her. No matter how bothersome she would ever become, I always knew that it was just Rouge being Rouge. Besides, maybe everything would turn out okay in the end. And maybe pigs would fly.

Her face reverted to its normal form quickly and without interruption. She strolled past me and gave me a friendly peck on the cheek. "Take it easy, Shadow."

I waved her off and fought back the blush that struggled to rise in my cheeks. They just didn't make friends like her anymore.

I took a deep breath to recover from my temporary depression and opened my book. I had barely begun reading when I was called away from the darkness of the pages. Normally, I would have been angry, but in this case I would make an exception.

It was Amy. Her lunch tray was hovering in front of her stomach, and her nervousness was clear in the way the apple on her tray wobbled and shivered. She smiled at me and succeeded in setting my stomach ablaze.

"Can I sit here?" she asked in that oh-so-polite way of hers.

I couldn't help but grin at her as she said that. She always asked for permission, no matter how many times I told her she could sit wherever she felt like. "Sure," I said, "Rouge went to get her lunch."

"Oh, okay," she responded with a quick nod. She sat quietly and hung her head to eat her food.

"So," I made light conversation, "how do you think you did on that test?"

"Good," she said. "I think I got a good grade."

There was a pause as she fell silent and picked at her salad like it was alive.

"Um," I spoke carefully, "so… Rouge talked to you about studying?"

"Yeah," she answered, and then added with a soft smile, "I think it'll be fun."

The heat rushed back into my cheeks. "Yeah. I think so too."

"Shadow?"

"Huh?"

"About what happened earlier…"

"Oh. Yeah?"

"Thanks for helping me out."

I offered up the most genuine, fanged smile a black and red hedgehog could muster. I wanted to tell her that I loved her, that I loved helping her, that I would always be there to help her even if she didn't love me back. But instead I told her, "No problem."

"Did I miss something?" the voice of Rouge asked from a distance.

I turned around and saw her approaching us from a few tables away, lunch tray in hand. She waved at Amy and winked at me as she walked. Before I could react or say hello, all hell broke loose. Rouge suddenly stumbled, tripped and fell, taking her tray of food with her. This alone would have been manageable, had she been the only one caught in the mess that flew from her arms.

But she wasn't. Sonic was there, too.

A splash of milk hit the blue hedgehog straight in the chest and exploded over his fur. The leaves from her salad fluttered in the air and landed all over them, and combined with the cup of fruit that spilled as well, there was orange and red juice dripping down on Sonic's shoes. Needless to say, the two were a mess, and Rouge was as red as an apple.

"Oh my God," she breathed in astonishment, cupping her hands over her mouth. "Oh my God, I am _so _sorry. Let me… I'll get some napkins, or…"

The lunchroom seemed to fall silent as Sonic glared in her direction. He wiped milk off of his shirt and cursed quietly to himself.

I quickly stood and ran over to help clean up the mess. "Here, let me help," I offered, kneeling down to pick up lettuce and fruit-bits.

Sonic was never one to get angry. He was also never one to swear, at least not very often. But something must have pissed him off that morning, because he did both right then and there. With a sideways glance at Rouge, he sneered, "Tell your _bitch_ to watch where she's going."

I froze. The words rang in my ears and repeated themselves like they were from a broken record. For a second, I wasn't sure how to react.

And then I remembered exactly how to react when someone calls your best friend a bitch.

I rocketed from the floor and balled my hand into a fist. My knuckles smashed into Sonic's face and sent him staggering back about five feet. There was blood oozing from his gaping mouth, and my white glove was stained red.

At first, the pain in my fingers was unbearable, but then I flexed my palm and looked fondly at my bloody fist. That felt pretty damn good.

Of course, one can never kick a hornet's nest without receiving a few stings.


	4. Chapter 4

He retaliated faster than I had anticipated. But then, I should have expected nothing less from the fastest thing alive.

Sonic's fist crossed my nose and crunched cartilage. Hot, thick blood coursed down my face and past my lips. The restraining part of my brain snapped in two, and I felt the fury come rushing through my veins like a drug.

I leapt forward, grabbing the blue hedgehog by the throat and acting on pure, unadulterated instinct. My free hand bashed into his stomach twice before he wrestled away from me and tumbled to the right. He regained his footing and glanced around in search of something to give him the higher ground.

He snatched up Rouge's fallen lunch tray and ran towards me, holding the thing over his head like an axe he would use to decapitate me. Instead, he simply threw the thing against my skull with all his might, denting the platter and rattling my brain.

I fell to the floor with a crash, rolling several feet before regaining my footing. I stood and panted heavily, the high of battle clouding my vision. The only thing I could see was Sonic's bloody face.

I suppose that made it partially my fault when his next punch missed me and hit someone else.

He yelled something that I couldn't understand and rushed me with his fist held high. I ducked and feigned right, then threw myself to the left and narrowly avoided what could have been a nasty hit to the face. But I still would've taken that hit had I known who had been behind me.

Time stopped as Sonic missed me and cracked his fist into Amy's nose.

My heart fell into my stomach, and my stomach fell into my toes. She crumpled to the ground like a flower whose stem had been ripped from the earth. I saw blood pool around the place where her face landed.

Even Sonic froze in place when he realized what he had done.

There was a mixture of feelings storming inside of me when I saw that happen. Regret, terror, guilt, rage. I could not physically identify them then. All I knew for certain was that Sonic was going to have hell to pay for that.

He turned around in slow-motion, his eyes filled with confusion and bewilderment. Then he saw me and his pupils shrank.

My fist connected with the hard bone that lies directly beneath the nose and runs up into the skull. Sonic's open eyes crossed and spun as I took his limp body by the neck and half-carried and half-dragged him over to an abandoned lunch table. Without thinking, I grasped a handful of his quills and drove his nose down onto the hard oak. I repeated this process as many times as I could until someone pulled me off of his bleeding form.

I snapped out of my frenzy and awoke in the school's front lobby area. Someone was holding an icepack to my nose when I regained feeling, and I turned to see who it was. My heart skipped a beat when I saw a pink hedgehog with a white bandage over her nose tending to my wounds.

"Amy?" I asked, realized my throat was too dry to speak, swallowed, and then asked again, "Amy?"

She looked at me, surprised to hear me talking. "You're awake."

Was I? I shook my head and grabbed my nose. My fingers pulled away like they were bitten by a poisonous snake when I realized how badly my nose hurt. "What the hell happened?"

"You got into a fight," she explained. "With Sonic."

Her eyes floated down to the ground below and stayed there. I swallowed hard and ignored the pain in my nose and forehead.

It didn't take me long to figure out what I had done wrong. What sort of friend was I to go around beating up the guy she had a crush on? I must've looked like a real bastard.

"I'm sorry, Amy."

"It's alright, Shadow. Really."

"No, no it's not alright. It's just… when he said that about Rouge, I just…"

She kept looking at the floor. The icepack in her lap began to melt and lose shape. I instinctively picked it up and gently pressed it against her bandaged nose. At first, she winced, and then her face glowed pink with blush. Whether it was the cold ice or the physical contact, I'm not sure. But I was blushing too.

"He had no right to call her that," Amy finally admitted. It was hard for her to do that, to confess that Sonic wasn't quite the knight in shining armor she had always saw him as. I respected her strength for doing so.

I nodded and put an arm around her shoulder, still keeping the icepack on her face as I did so.

"And he should have watched where he was swinging," she continued, her voice rising in volume.

I shook my head and comforted her. I was good at that. "No, Amy. I jumped out of the way. It's my fault you got hurt."

Her glasses fogged up with tears as she disagreed. "Shadow, he is the one that hit me. He… h-he hit me."

I was silent. What the hell was I supposed to say?

"He hit me," she whimpered. "He hit me, Shadow."

"He didn't mean to," I reassured her. "Amy, I swear to God, no one alive wants to hurt you. Nobody who knows you wants to hurt you."

She buried her face into my shoulder, crying silently into my chest.

I dropped the ice and hugged her close to my body. I shushed her sobs and squeezed her shoulders. "It was an accident. I swear to you, it was an accident."

We sat like that for a few minutes. If Rouge were here, she probably would've said that we looked pretty cute.

It felt like hours before Amy lifted her face from my chest. She sniffled and wiped her nose with the sleeve of her jacket. I pried her glasses from the bridge of her nose and cleaned the lenses with the thumb of my glove. I planted them back onto her delicate face, minding the fresh bandage. She smiled at me.

"We still on for tonight?" I asked with a smirk.

"Yeah," she answered happily, nodding as she did so.

I stood and helped her to her feet. "You should get to class. I bet the principal wants to talk to me."

Amy hesitated. "What if… what if they say they needed to talk to me?"

"I'll talk to them," I promised. "You didn't do anything, anyways. Now go on. You're probably missing some killer biology lessons or something."

She giggled. I always loved it when she did that. It reminded me that there was a God out there who cared about my happiness. Or I was just a lucky bastard.

About two or three seconds after she left, I heard a familiar voice behind me. "Even with a bloody nose, you still have time to be a romantic."

I was unsurprised to see Rouge standing behind me, arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes were fixed on me with a joking look, but deep inside her I could see she felt guilty for what happened.

I shrugged.

There was a pause as Rouge looked down at my shoes nervously. She bit her lip cautiously and took a step towards me. Then she punched my arm. "Thanks for that… well, you know," she said.

I shrugged again. "Yeah. We're still on for tonight, right?"

Her face immediately lit up. "You know it. I have a plan, remember?"

I grinned. Same old Rouge.


	5. Chapter 5

I arrived home early, due to the 'violent interactions' I had with Sonic that day. I used the extra time to write in my notebook about the day's events. Which reminded me; I needed to hide the bloody thing. The top of my bookshelf seemed as safe as anywhere. Rouge would never _willingly _go near books. But I decided to tuck the journal beneath a particularly dusty Stephen King novel, just to be safe.

All the while, my mind raced with thoughts of Amy. Tonight, she would be in my house, in my room. Studying of course, but I nonetheless felt... well, nervous as hell.

I told myself to calm down. Rouge would be here as well, so it wasn't like we were going to be alone together. For once, it was a relief to know that my friend the bat would be coming over to my house.

That was when my phone rang.

"This is Shadow."

"Hey, it's Rouge."

I won't deny that after today's commotion, I was beginning to fear the worst.

"Rouge? What's the matter?"

"Nothing's the matter, Shadow."

"Nothing's wrong?"

"Of course not."

I wandered over to my couch and flopped down onto the welcoming leather cushions. I rubbed my sore face with my free hand and sighed through my fingers. It had been a rough day. "Sorry, Rouge," I explained, "it's just been a hell of a day."

"It's fine," she insisted. "I was just calling to tell you I can't come over tonight."

My eyes shot open and I bolted upright in my seat. The pieces came together fast and hard in my mind. This was her plan. _This _was her plan. Bail on us now. Get Amy and I alone together.

I wanted to roar at her through the phone, and it took every good fiber in my being to help me growl at my friend instead. "You what?"

I could see her smug, smiling face in my mind's eye as she spoke, "Something came up. You understand, don't you?"

I clawed at my forehead and seethed with rage. "What the hell are you pulling, Rouge?"

She acted offended. "Me? I'm not pulling anything. I honestly can't make it tonight."

I knew she was lying, but I humored her anyways. "Then tell me, why can't you make it?"

There was a long pause as she thought of an answer. "Dentist appointment," she finally said.

"You're lying to me, Rouge."

"Shadow, I'm going to be late for my appointment."

"Rouge."

"You're breaking up, sweetheart."

"Rouge, this isn't funny."

"Tell me how the date goes!"

"Damn it, Rouge!"

The phone clicked off and fell silent. I cursed loudly and tossed the damned thing across the room. It hit the wall with a plastic smack and landed on the floor with a hollow thud. I shook my head and rubbed my temples.

Please, God, I prayed to myself, let this be the only phase she has in her plan. I didn't think I could take much more than one.

Then the doorbell echoed through the house. My stomach turned cold and knotted. Amy Rose was at the door.

I quickly picked up the phone and shoved it away before answering the door. And there she was. Standing in my doorway. Her soft, green eyes widened when they saw me, as though she had not expected anyone to answer the door.

She looked down at her feet. "Hey," she said.

I gulped and stood aside for her. "Hey. Come on in."

Amy walked inside slowly and cautiously, clutching her backpack close to her chest. What was I going to tell her about Rouge? That she couldn't make it? She'd think I was lying.

"Where's Rouge?" she asked.

Speak of the devil. "She," I started, paused, and then started again, "she's not here yet. I guess she's running late."

"Oh," she said, nodding.

I buried my hands deep into my pockets and wondered about what to do. We couldn't just start studying, could we? No. We needed to give Rouge some time to show up, even if I knew that she never would. Unless Amy wanted to start now and wait for Rouge later…

"Do you want to start studying?" she questioned.

I must have looked surprised, because she quickly turned away from me as her face turned red.

"I-I mean," she stuttered, "t-that is, unless you want t-to wait for Rouge."

"No, no," I reassured her. "We can start… yeah, let's start now. She'll probably show up later."

I motioned for her to follow me, and we walked upstairs to my room. I flipped the light switch and showed her to my desk. "Here," I offered. "Take a seat."

Amy sat carefully into my rolling chair. I sat away from her, on top of my bed, and waited quietly. She took a moment to examine my room, and my heart pounded with every item she saw. I wondered if she liked the books on my shelf, what she thought of the stack of CDs buried in the closet, if she thought the posters on my wall were lame or not.

After several seconds of silence, I decided to speak. "So… how's your nose?"

She looked up at me as if noticing me for the first time. Then she glanced down at her nose and caressed the bandage. "Still a little sore," she admitted.

"Do you need any ice or something?"

"No thank you. I should be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

I nodded and accepted that she wasn't in any pain. "Okay."

Amy pulled a book from her pack and held it out for me to see. Our math textbook. "Should we… um, start studying?"

"Yeah," I replied, wishing I had thought of that first. I removed my Algebra 2 book from the depths of my cluttered backpack and turned to the review page we had been assigned to study. "Let's see… section one, finding the square root of an unknown number."

"I already did numbers one and two," she told me. "I had some free time after today's test, and… well."

I nodded again. "That's good. Can I check them?"

"Sure," she said.

I walked over to her seat and loomed over her shoulder. My heart rate was finally slowing back down to its normal pace; I had work to focus on now, not just Amy. I could manage that.

"Okay," I remarked, "here's what you did wrong." I pointed to the remainder of her equation, the little number she had penciled in to the right of the paper. "You forgot to factor in the remainder."

Amy turned bright red. "Oh…" she responded sadly.

"It's okay," I said. "We're studying, right? Go ahead and do the math."

She scribbled down a few different numbers and looked to me for guidance. I checked the textbook's answer-guide.

"Did I get it right this time?"

"Um… yeah. Yeah, you got it."

We did this for a few minutes. Back and forth questions about mathematics, tender moments concerning decimal placement; your usual romantic stuff. Then the phone rang again.

I heard the ringing and glanced to Amy. "Ah," I said as I stood, "I have to get that."

She nodded. "Right. Go ahead."

I strolled downstairs, answered the phone, and immediately heard, "Tell me the details."

I stood there for a moment, confused, until I recognized the voice on the other end. "Rouge?"

"Who else has your phone number, Shadow?" she scoffed. "Now, details. What happened with Amy?"

I leaned against the kitchen counter and shrugged. "Nothing really happened yet. She's still here, I mean, but…"

"Wait," she cut me off mid-sentence, "she's still there?"

I nodded, remembered she couldn't see me nod over a telephone, and said, "Yeah, why?"

"Shadow, what time does your clock say?"

"It says… oh, God."

"Yeah. When were you planning on taking this girl home, Shadow?"

"I didn't think we'd be studying until one in the morning!"

"Think of it this way. You can always tell her that time just flies when you're around her. Even if it's study-time."

"Damn it, Rouge, that's not funny. What do I tell her?"

"Chill out, Shadow. You didn't do anything wrong. Just tell her it's late and walk her home."

I took a deep breath. "Alright. Alright, I can do that."

Rouge's voice crackled, "Okay. Do that, and then give me a full report tomorrow."

I rolled my eyes. "Got it. By the way, how'd your dentist appointment go?"

She huffed, "Shut up and walk that poor girl home."

I chuckled dryly and told her goodnight before hanging up.

That was when I heard something fall upstairs.


	6. Chapter 6

I ran upstairs, my heart hammering against my chest. I should have known that it wasn't Amy that had fallen; the noise was far too quiet to be heavy enough to be a person. But at the time, the only thing on my mind was panic.

I rounded the corner into my room and looked around anxiously. My eyes darted around in search of whatever had fallen, whatever had made the noise… but I saw nothing. Nothing looked out of place.

The only thing different was that Amy had moved from the chair and to the floor, where she now sat cross-legged with her back turned to me. I almost let out a sigh of relief.

But then I saw it. Upon the top shelf of my bookcase, where I kept my Stephen King novels, was a missing book. Had this happened any other day, I would have assumed that Amy was sitting on the floor and reading one of my books. I knew she wasn't, though, because the book that was missing was lying a foot away from her on the ground.

My toes turned numb and face drained of color when my brain finally registered what was happening. She was reading the notebook. The green one.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?" a voice I didn't recognize as my own boiled up and out of my throat.

Amy jumped and turned around to face me. Her face was a deep, dark orange when she saw me, and her eyes were glimmering with stars, but I was far too pissed-off to notice. The only thing I saw then was my notebook lying sprawled out and open on the carpet where she had been sitting. My palms went numb and cold when I saw what page she was on.

I stormed over to the notebook and took it up from its place on the floor. Blood rushed into my cheeks as I turned to look at her. The pink hedgehog had a look on her face I could not identify. Shock, fear, and… sudden understanding.

I looked away from her and turned on the notebook. The green cover seemed to mock me with its presence. Ever since Rouge had found it, it had been nothing but trouble. My hands balled into fists and crushed into the papery flesh.

"Don't tear it up," the whispering, shy voice of Amy begged from the corner. I shot her a glare. She looked at me with wet viridian jewels. Her lips trembled as she confessed, "I had no idea you… t-that you… t-that I…"

My fury fizzled and hissed until it died and was replaced with concern and repentance. I had just yelled at her… worse still, I swore at her.

I swallowed my leftover anger and took a shuddering breath to calm myself. I let one hand fall to my side as I used the other to hold my journal out to her. "Why… did you read this?"

She sniffled, "I didn't mean to." Her small hands gestured to the shelf. "I-I was looking at your books. I saw one that I l-liked. Then your notebook fell out."

There was an ungodly silence as I took a moment to process this information. She knew. She knew everything now. There were no more secrets, no more pretending that all I wanted to be was her friend. Because now she knew.

Every poem I had written, every thought I had, every time I wrote 'I love you' she knew about. Damn it all. Damn it all. _Damn it all_.

I frowned and looked halfheartedly at the notebook that had once been a secret to everyone but me. Then I tossed the thing aside and sat down on my bed.

Amy stood quietly in the corner, watching me, wondering what to make of me.

I supposed I could just come out and say it now, couldn't I? So I did just that. "Amy," I said, "I fell in love with you, okay? Honest to God, I tried not to. But I did. I know you love Sonic, I know you think of me as just a friend, alright? But I'll just say it now, so that no one can ever tell me I missed my chance."

I stood from the bed and simply stood there for a minute, looking at the floor. Then I walked over to her, unconsciously pinning her against the wall with my presence. She held her hands tentatively in front of her chest, and I could hear her heart pounding as I pressed my body against hers. Or maybe that was me. I don't know.

"I love you, Amy Rose," I confessed.

We stood there for what felt like no less than hours on end, staring into each other's souls. I didn't kiss her. I didn't pull off her glasses and make love to her. I didn't take off a mask and admit I was a vampire. I just stood there and waited for her answer.

Amy's panting breaths were hot on my face, but I didn't mind. Her eyes were hell to look into now, but I kept looking inside of them. And her voice hurt to hear, but I listened anyway.

"I don't know," she breathed, "I don't know what to think."

I nodded weakly. Neither did I.

Then she did something I didn't expect her to do. She inched one of her hands up to her nose, using her fingers to find the edges of the bandage. Her nails dug beneath the adhesive and peeled away the white strip until I could see her blackening, bruised nose. She let the bandage fall to the floor and then looked me in the eyes.

I leaned forward and softly kissed her injury out of pure instinct, and she blushed as I did so. Then she kissed back. Our lips met and I could feel my heart ignite into a roaring flame. I took her by the shoulders and took the kiss deeper. Her jacket fell to the floor, leaving her clad in a black t-shirt and jeans. She approached me and forced me to back away until I fell down onto my bed.

Crawling towards me, she followed me and kissed me as I lay on my back. Her glasses were foggy and clouded with the heat of our breath, and I could barely make out her eyes behind the lenses as she stared at me longingly.

Amy's hand moved to the hem of her shirt, as though to remove it. But I stopped her with my own hand. No matter how much I thought I wanted to see her naked, I knew that it wasn't right to take advantage of her feelings like that. Her eyes told me she understood, and I sat up to kiss her so that the temptation of sex was farther away.

Never let it be said that Shadow the hedgehog isn't a gentleman.


	7. Chapter 7

"So, what happened? Did it go well?"

"I'm reading, Rouge."

"How can you read at a time like this? What happened last night?"

"A gentleman never kisses and tells."

"So there _was_ kissing?"

"Reading, Rouge."

The bat-girl huffed and crossed her arms over her chest in frustration. All that time she spent getting us together, and I was refusing to tell her anything. I guess I might've looked a little ungrateful.

"Fine," she finally sighed in defeat, "fine. Don't tell me. I just won't tell you about phase two of my plan."

I glanced up from my book and caught her giving me a mischievous look. Phase two sounded bad, but I was in too good a mood to care at the time. So I went back to my book.

"You're no fun, Shadow."

"And you're just now figuring that out?"

That was when Amy walked over to our table. She had a shy smile on her face as she met my gaze. "Can I sit here?"

I smiled back at her. "Sure."

Rouge watched with astonishment as the pink hedgehog sat down beside me and peeked over my shoulder to see what I was reading. For the sake of screwing with Rouge, I held the book between Amy and I, and the two of us read silently for a while. I could feel the bat's sky-blue daggers burning through my skull as I pretended to be involved in whatever the hell I was reading that day.

The first bell rang, signaling a five-minute warning before first period. Amy went to stand and leave, but hesitated. She looked uncertainly at me and seemed to think for a moment, and then she leaned forward and kissed my cheek.

I could almost hear Rouge's jaw hitting the floor.

"I'll see you in class, okay?" Amy asked sweetly.

I nodded, trying to hide my joy. The spot where she kissed me burned and flared like fire. "Yeah," I confirmed. "I'll see you."

There was a second and a half of silence after Amy walked away, and then Rouge unleashed her wrath. "Okay, what the hell was that?"

I held up my book and showed her the cover to let her know that I was still reading. Apparently, though, she had had enough of my bull crap. Her hand shot forward like a viper as she snatched the book out of my hand. She turned to her left and hurled it away, sending it skidding across the tile.

"Never kiss and tell," she mocked with a snort. "Jackass."

I stopped myself from laughing. The last thing I wanted to do now was piss her off. And I honestly was grateful for her help in bringing Amy and I together. So I compromised. "Look, Rouge, I'll tell you about last night later, okay?"

She refused to make eye-contact with me.

I frowned. "Come on, Rouge."

Her eyes flickered towards me, unsure, and then she turned directly towards me. "You'll tell me _all _about it?"

The way she was looking at me made it hard to stay strong. "Yes," I caved, "I'll tell you all about it."

Rouge's face suddenly lit up. "Will you let me read about it in your notebook?"

That was where I drew the line. "No way in hell."

She flexed her wings, considering my offer. Her lips puckered sadly. "Oh, alright. But you better tell me everything, Shadow the hedgehog."

I helped her out of her seat and started walking towards our first period. But she walked the other way. "Where are you going?" I asked.

She turned around and scoffed as though it should have been obvious. "The library, duh."

"You? Go to a library? And nobody's forcing you?"

"It's for a book report, smartass. I'll see you in Algebra, just tell the teacher I'm printing something."

"Got it."

As I turned and walked away, shaking my head and smiling to myself, I couldn't help but think about how great things were finally going for me. Amy finally knew how I felt and was okay with it, maybe even in agreement with it. The burden that had been lifted from my chest was akin to the removal of an anvil from my heart. Well, that's a weird way of putting it, but it's not like anyone's ever going to read this damned thing.

I was so engrossed in my newfound happiness, I didn't notice the blue hedgehog standing in my path as I rounded the corner. But when I did, I saw his dark green eyes lock with mine, exhausted but filled with ideas of vengeance.

I stopped in front of him. He was leaning against a locker on his right side, my left, and his clenched fists were tucked into his pockets. There was a series of bandages crisscrossing his bruised face.

"What's up, Shadow?" he almost growled, but he barely managed a normal tone.

I touched the bruises on my chin and face, partially to let him know that he wasn't the only one who was hurt and pissed, and partially to remind myself that I wasn't in the mood for another fight. "I have to get to class."

I shoved past him with my shoulder, but not before he grabbed me by said shoulder and hissed into my ear, "After school, you and me. Got it?"

I wasn't going to be goaded into a fight, especially not by Sonic. "Piss off," I spat, pushing him out of my way.

"I'll tell everyone you backed out," he threatened.

"Like I give a damn," I retorted, walking away.

"I'll tell Amy I love her," he suddenly said.

I froze. There was a pause as the severity of those words sunk in, and I then I turned to look at Sonic. "What makes you think I care about-?"

"Oh, come on, faker," Sonic sneered. "It's so freaking obvious that you like her. I for one am glad that she's found someone, no seriously, I am. But you know for a fact how much she likes me, and if I have to pull on that chain and send her crawling back to me, I will."

I lunged forward, unaware of my movements, and I took him by the throat and slammed him against the lockers. "Never," I snarled, "_never_ talk about Amy like she's a dog."

For a second, Sonic's eyes widened and seemed to grow hazy, as though he suddenly realized that what he was doing was wrong, even by his standards. But then he smiled at me. "So, I'll see you after school?"

I let go of him quietly and slowly, realizing that he truly did have that kind of power over Amy. It was my responsibility now to never let him toy with that power, to help Amy resist it.

"Yeah," I growled in defeat, "I'll see you after school."


	8. Chapter 8

Lunch period fell upon us quickly, and this usually would be cause for rejoicing. But given what awaited me after school, I much rather preferred that the boredom of education would proceed a little bit longer than normal.

Rouge did not agree. "We're at the halfway-point," she celebrated, setting her tray down across from me. "I love lunchtime. It reminds me that there's a life out there besides this, you know?"

I cracked a small smile. "Yeah."

She picked up on my attitude almost immediately. "Okay, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Something has to be wrong."

"Says who?"

"Says the law of storytelling. Every day's a story, Shadow, and no story is complete without a problem and a solution. So what's the problem?"

I was taken slightly aback. "Wow. That's actually pretty deep, Rouge."

She waved my compliment on as though there were many more to come. "I try, sweetheart, I try. Now what's up?"

I picked at my food nervously. "Sonic wants to fight me."

"_Again_?" she sighed in a tired voice, like she was being forced to watch a rerun of a bad show.

"Seriously, Rouge," I insisted. "He said if I didn't fight him, he'd-…"

Amy walked into the conversation without a care in the world. "Can I sit here?"

I put on a smile, despite the fact that my brain was running at a hundred miles an hour. "Sure," I invited.

She sat next to me and started to eat, oblivious to what I had been talking about prior. Rouge looked at me, then at Amy, and then she raised an eyebrow at me. I only sighed and shook my head at her before going back to my food.

But Rouge wasn't about to end our conversation without finding out what I had been about to say. So she did something I didn't expect her to do again for a long time.

In one fell swoop, Rouge's hand 'accidently' flew forward and slapped her milk carton aside at the perfect angle for it to fly straight into my face. I flinched and sputtered as the lukewarm cow-juice connected with my eyes. For a few seconds, all I could see and taste was two-percent dairy product.

I instinctively swatted at my eyes and shouted in shock, "_Rouge_? What the hell!"

She put a hand over her mouth and pretended to look sorry. "Oh, I'm sorry. God, I'm clumsy."

Amy hurriedly stood from her seat. "I-I'll go get some napkins!" she promised as she ran off towards the cafeteria.

Before I had even regained full use of my eyes, Rouge was barking orders. "Quick. What was Sonic going to do if you didn't fight him?"

I blinked rapidly in order to strain a glare at her. "You threw a carton of milk at me for that?"

"Hurry," she said, "Amy's coming back. What did he say he'd do?"

"He said he'd tell Amy he loved her," I said, still struggling to wipe milk off of myself.

"That's it?" Rouge asked, cocking her head. "Why didn't you say so?"

Then a pink blur entered my clouded field of vision. "Here," the figure who must have been Amy said. A pair of soft, delicate hands started to wipe away the whiteness from my face.

I turned a light shade of red when the milk was finally gone. "Thanks," I told her, but Rouge was already talking over me.

"Amy!" she suddenly gasped. "I got milk all over your jacket!"

Amy's eyes widened and her cheeks glowed scarlet. "I-I… you did?" she stammered as she looked over herself for signs of stains. "Where?"

"Here," Rouge said, taking her by the hand and practically dragging her away. "We'll go get you cleaned up in the bathroom. Come on."

I watched the pair wander off into the distance, Rouge confidently leading and Amy nervously stuttering. It was at that moment that I came to a stark, starling truth.

Girls are weird.

The end of the school-day came sooner than I would have hoped, and by the time I knew it, it was too late. Sonic even gave me a not-so-friendly punch in the arm on his way out the building, just to remind me of the bloody mess that was going to be happening in less than a minute. I wasn't scared of Sonic, but I wasn't in the mood to give or receive any bruises for a while.

I reluctantly started for the door, pushing my way through and scanning the crowd for Sonic's face. It didn't take me long to locate, but when I saw him, I also saw a circle void of people in front of him. The kind of circle that people cleared when a fight was about to go down. I swallowed and began my long walk towards the clearing.

But I never expected to see who was standing there when I arrived.

"Amy?" I asked no one in particular, my brain reeling from the shock.

There, in the center of the ring, stood a very angry-looking Amy Rose. Her tiny hands were clasped together into a pair of fists, and her emerald eyes were aimed at Sonic like knives. The blue hedgehog was watching her with little interest.

"Where the hell is Shadow?" he asked her.

"Shadow's…" Amy spoke in her normal, quiet voice, and then raised her tone to be heard above the crowd, "… this isn't about Shadow!"

Sonic looked confused. "Yeah, it is."

"I know what you told him," she said, "about telling me that you love me."

My stomach flipped end-over-end, but Sonic was unfazed. "What are you talking about?" he snickered, lying through his teeth.

Suddenly, Amy walked a little bit closer to him. The blue hedgehog stood a whole head taller than her, but she managed to look him in the eyes. Their green eyes battled an invisible battle as they glared at one another. The pink hedgehog took a deep breath through her nose, and the muscles in her arms visibly tensed.

"Get out of my face."

"Sonic, I once thought I loved you…"

Amy's bright eyes dimmed, and she looked down at the concrete nervously. The corners of her glasses began to fog up as her irises turned bloodshot. Then she took another deep breath.

Her fist moved like lightning as it smashed into Sonic's nose. Blood flew and splashed the gray cement, turning it a putrid crimson. Amy's eyes were like green fire as they flared and flashed with pent-up frustration. She had not slapped him. She had not kicked him in the balls. She had gone and punched him square in the face. I think that deserves a hell yeah.

"Go to hell, Sonic the hedgehog!" she screamed as he stumbled backwards and nearly fell over.

There were some gasps of astonishment and a few chuckles from the crowd that had been expecting a fight before they dispersed. Sonic vanished with the flood of people to avoid any further humiliation. I couldn't blame him.

I went over to Amy after almost everyone was gone, and the first thing I did when I was close enough to look her in the eye was kiss her. She flustered and turned orange as I pulled away and grinned at her.

"That was one hell of a show," I remarked proudly.

Amy shrugged sheepishly and stared at the floor. "Oh… t-thank you. I-I just was a little angry, I guess."

Maybe I wasn't going to have to do as much protecting as I thought I would.


	9. Chapter 9

She was seventeen when we graduated high-school together. Walking across that stage, she told me, was the scariest moment in her entire life.

She was eighteen when we went our separate ways, each of us going off to study at different colleges. We didn't see each other again for four years. That, she later told me, was the definite scariest moment in her entire life.

She was twenty-two when we finally saw one another again. I hadn't seen her face light up like that in nearly six years. Then she told me about how her birthday was coming up soon, and I told her that I would take her to dinner.

She was twenty-three years old that night that I asked for her hand in marriage. The ring was expensive, but I didn't mind. The answer was worth every cent. Her eyes flooded with tears and her smile engulfed her face as she struggled to nod and let out a sobbing, "Yes."

We wed, honeymooned, made love, and lived together happily for four years. That was about the time that I received an invitation to a high-school reunion. Very shortly afterwards, she received one too. I remember the night we discussed it. What did we have to lose? Maybe we would see some of our old friends. Maybe some enemies. Who knew?

In any case, we went.

I'm not going to end the final page of this damned notebook by writing out exactly everything that happened. Hell, I haven't written in this thing in… God, ten years, I suppose. However, a brief overview can suffice.

Rouge was there, and perhaps it was simply the makeup, but she didn't appear to have aged a day in those ten years we had been absent from her. I remember her squealing with delight when she saw the rings on our fingers.

"Oh my God, you two are-? You _are_! That is so romantic."

While she gushed about this, I felt a tap on my shoulder that beckoned me away from the girls. My eyes went wide involuntarily when they met with the sight of Sonic the hedgehog. He had a tired, kind look in his eye as he addressed me.

"Sonic?" I questioned, confused.

"Look," he said quickly, "before you say anything, just let me say that I'm sorry, okay?"

I wasn't sure what to say to that.

"I admit," he continued, trying to convince me that he was telling the truth, "I was an ass before. But… hell, I don't know. I guess all I can say is that I'm sorry… for everything."

His hand extended to take mine. I hesitated, but not for long. We shook. Bygones can be bygones, right? And ten bloody years… who would be the ass then if I decided to refuse his apology?

So, after all of that happened, and Sonic apologized to Amy and Rouge, we invited Rouge over for dinner. We probably wouldn't have offered dinner, though, if she had just accepted Sonic's apology sooner. I guess she wanted to see him grovel a little.

And finally, here I am, sitting in my room, at my desk, writing down my life's story in a notebook that no one is ever going to read. What the hell am I doing? Amy and Rouge are out there right now, talking and having a good time. I came in here to… to… what was I doing? Getting something, I think. Damn it, now I have to go back out and ask.

I suppose I ought to leave this page with some sort of inspirational quote or something. Maybe something about following your dreams or love always prevailing in the end. Off the top of my head, though, I can't… wait, I've got one.

"Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream only at night. We loved with a love that was more than love." –Edgar Allen Poe

There. I think that's finally the end of this tired, old thing. The pages were starting to curl up around the edges and brown, for God's sake. Damn shame that no one's ever going to read this. Rouge would think it was kind of romantic.

The End

Author's Note: Thanks to Maga Valkyria and Guardian of Balance for their reviews and support while this was still in the works. You two are awesome.


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